So, I just signed up just so I could make my comments known on the demo, although I have been a long time reader of this forum..
As a preamble, I really enjoyed 2018, played online and offline and although the PA3 players and the AI scripting irritated me, me and my girlfriend found Master League to be enjoyable and I enjoyed MyClub for the most part when I wasn't playing the cheap tactic individuals.
Played a couple of online games of the demo and it does feel lovely, there is a certain weightiness about the players and it feels right. I played as Monaco and Schalke and you could feel the difference, a big lumbering center half felt a million miles from Lemar or Konoplyka (probably spelt that one wrong). Really enjoyed the dribbling, it felt good beating the opponent one on one and a few times I left my opponent on his backside with a deft change of direction or a quick dummy. The skills feel nice but not overpowered which is a good balance to have in my opinion.
Crossing felt less overpowered. I had Falcao in the box and despite my best efforts I only got him on to the end of one high cross, the defenders looked good at marshalling the air it seemed.
Defensively I felt like my players were reacting better than last year, passes that would have snuck through my midfield or defense were being mopped up and there was a great feeling of weight over the lighter players like Mbappe. Yeah, he might do Naldo for pace but if he is trying to muscle past him, not a chance. I never felt like my defense was pulled out of shape but I wasn't over abusing pressure either so their formation remained pretty tight. Managed to keep my opponents down to about 3 shots over 2 games which is a nice change from last year.
The passing on PA1 felt better. I won't say it is free because it isn't, what it did feel like was my input mattered. While the ball seemed to go to players feet a lot, (although later in the game, nowhere near as much as fatigue crept in) using the through ball helped to pop it in front of players. What I did find was that you need to be a bit more accurate with the power bar as too much will try and send it to someone a lot further forward and will probably end up being cut out. It felt nice though, and it did feel like I had to think about my passes although I am the sort of player who wants to take a touch rather than first time it about anyways. Didn't see any back heels in two games which was nice, or at least none that stood out as out of place.
Shooting felt good too, I ran through a few times and missed by quite a way because I was on the wrong foot or had messed up my angles, dragged a few wide, stuck a few at the keeper or over, it feels a lot better than 2018 which was just a touch too predictable. Long range shots that I took didn't have that ridiculous over power that most seemed to have in 2018 and a few bobbled wide or through to the keeper.
Keepers looked good although like others have said, they are a bit stuck to their line, dunno why my opponent didn't bring them out a couple of times but never mind. They made some lovely saves and reacted well, just need to unstick them a bit and they will be fantastic. Like others have said, in player versus player that won't matter too much as we will all call them out but versus the ai it may be a bit unrealistic.
Attacking wise it just feels nice, it feels good knocking the ball about in the midfield and trying to setup an attack and it also feels nice launching a quick counter attack. I tend to do a lot of wing play, especially with Schalke and I felt like I could play how I wanted without it being a huge disadvantage to not spam pass or through ball like some others do. I know that may change as players work out the exploits but it was nice today. It also felt different with the two teams I tried. Schalke really worked with 3-5-2 and wing backs advanced instruction while Monaco was an attacking 4-5-1 and it felt like I played a lot more through the middle on that one.
The other nice thing to see, although currently greyed out, is the team class filter. I hope that is going to be a thing through all online modes. I only really played MyClub last year online so it wasn't much of a problem but if I got into the divisions thing that would be a great filter to have.
Overall, I really like what I have played. Going to give offline a go later on when I get time but the online felt responsive and really nice to play. It also helped that it looked glorious even on my bog standard PS4 and HD Ready tv.. Will be looking forward to when I get chance to upgrade later in the year to PS4 Pro and a 4k TV!
but i get the idea behind it...
